[dvhouw]

Good tip about using dispersion, thanks!

[Mihai]

I'm not sure if dispersion is appropriate here - except for adding unnecessary render time. I haven't seen a product photo yet of a bottle with water drops where the drops showed a dispersion effect. It would be pretty distracting and people would want to avoid it.

Totally not a solution in your case, and I'm sorry if this adds to your frustration but wanted to point out there is a really good tutorial on Digital Tutors about using RealFlow to create exactly what you are looking for, even animated drops that stick together and fall off a can....just thought it's worth mentioning in this thread

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1 ... n-RealFlow

[hatts]

Just came across this method. Basically you model a few water drops, randomize/scatter across a plane, and then use that plane of droplets to generate a bump map. You can then use that bump map in a variety of orientations/scales for multiple projects.

http://www.ronenbekerman.com/3d-water-d ... nd-benoit/

[simmsimaging]

Bertrand's method works great for that kind of shot (rainy glass etc) but to do the drops on a bottle like the reference you need dimension. The exact same approach can be used to generate a displacement map though - which is how I have done many bottle shots. The only downside to this approach is that you cannot really control droplet placement well, and if you work with Art Directors you probably need that control

/b

[dvhouw]

@hatts; Thanks for your reply, but the problem is not creating the bump or displacement maps (I already have those), I actually want to avoid using bump or displacement and only work with geomerty.
@Mihai; I haven't tried adding dispersion yet, but I could imagine it might make a small difference with close-up shots, in any other case it's probably not visible. I've seen and tried the techniques used in the Realflow tutorial (also in my first post) but I wasn't satisfied. Not enough small detail (sweat).

To me the most promising idea would be what feynman said;
Creating a library with realistic water drop meshes, and then using a good scatter program to spread them over a bottle.
Only I have no experience with 3ds max and Forest Pack, nor with Rhino but I'm trying to plan some days off to tackle this method.
Hope to be able to show some test scenes soon.
Cheers.